Zach Friend wins bid for 2nd District Supervisors race

(Updated 1:10 a.m.) WATSONVILLE — Zach Friend has won his bid for the 2nd supervisorial district race.

With all precincts reporting and 8,915 ballots tallied early Wednesday, Friend, a crime analyst with the Santa Cruz Police Department, had 57 percent of the vote, more than three times that of Corralitos contractor Daniel Beckett, his closest rival in the crowded field.

Former Watsonville mayor Antonio Rivas, water watchdog Doug Deitch and SeaBreeze Tavern owner Rich McInnis were far behind in the single digits.

Friend, 33, needed 50 percent of the vote plus one to clinch the supervisor's seat without a November runoff. The number of absentee ballots he collected in early counting. represented more than half of all ballots cast in the last 2nd district race in June 2008.

"Obviously the early absentees are very encouraging," Friend said early Tuesday evening.

Friend has the backing of many county power brokers and incumbent Ellen Pirie, who decided not to seek re-election after a third term. He also has a political background that includes six years as chairman of the county Democratic Party and stints working with Rep. Sam Farr and on the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

He supports expanding Highway 1, a big issue in South County, where commuters sit in traffic daily, and opposes a plan to double the size of the Safeway at the Rancho Del Mar shopping center.

Beckett, 48, had little political experience before jumping into the contest, but he ran an ambitious campaign, posting signs throughout the Pajaro Valley and turning out for debates.

Rivas, 65, served eight years on the Watsonville City Council before being termed out in 2010. But in a district that includes parts of the city he once represented his campaign for supervisor failed to spark. He was unable to even gain the endorsement of the Pajaro Valley Cesar Chavez Club, a group he helped found.

Deitch, 64, is a perennial candidate and a constant critic of the management of the local water supply.

McInnis, 49, decided to run after purchasing the SeaBreeze and butting heads with county planning and code enforcement in his bid to get the business going.